Crypto bill talks to continue in Senate through August break (CNET)

   McCain-Kerrey crypto talks continue
   By Reuters
   July 29, 1997, 2:35 p.m. PT
   
   WASHINGTON--In an unusual legislative maneuver, the Senate Commerce
   Committee will continue negotiating through August over the provisions
   of an encryption bill approved by the committee on June 19, staffers
   said.
   
   The controversial legislation, known as the Secure Public Networks
   Act, would slightly relax strict U.S. export controls on encryption.
   
   Authored by Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-Nebraska) and cosponsored by committee
   chairman Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), the bill would also try to use
   the government's vast purchases of computers and software to influence
   the domestic market.
   
   The bill mirrors the approach favored by the Clinton administration
   and law enforcement agencies that would allow the government to decode
   any message by gaining access to the software keys. Under the bill,
   the government would only buy or fund products that incorporated
   so-called key recovery.
   
   While encryption is increasingly used to safeguard electronic commerce
   and global communications over the Internet, the administration fears
   that, without key recovery, crooks and terrorists will utilize the
   same programs to hide their nefarious activities.
   
   But the high-tech industry and privacy and civil liberties advocates
   oppose the bill. They say strong encryption is needed to spur commerce
   and that criminals would be unlikely to use encryption products with
   key recovery, since nonrecovery products are sold by foreign
   companies.
   
   Mark Buse, a committee staffer working on the bill, said negotiations
   were ongoing with a variety of interested parties, including opponents
   of the measure.
   
   McCain said at the markup that he would want to sit down with them
   over the next month or two and try to see if there were some areas of
   compromise, Buse told Reuters. "We're going to try to sit down in
   August for some real serious discussions."
   
   Industry lobbyists expressed frustration about the committee's
   approach. "We just don't think that bill is a good starting point,"
   Novell lobbyist Daniel Burton said. "There are too many problems with
   it."
   
   The committee will not budge on a provision allowing the president to
   restrict exports deemed to pose a risk to national security, Buse
   said. Industry groups and privacy advocates strongly oppose the
   provision, arguing the president could use the open-ended authority to
   maintain the status quo.
   
   The committee may replace the key recovery approach with an alternate
   technology if such an alternative met the needs of law enforcement,
   Buse added. "McCain is in no way wed to key recovery. What he is wed
   to is some system that will allow the government, with a subpoena, to
   track down or intercept messages that involve crime."
   
   At last month's vote, the Commerce Committee was scheduled to consider
   a bill from Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Montana) that would have dramatically
   relaxed export controls. The Burns bill also prohibited the government
   from forcing domestic users of encryption to give the government
   access to their software keys.
   
   But at the markup, the committee approved the substitute legislation
   from Kerrey and McCain instead.
   
   The Senate Judiciary Committee, which is considering drafting a new
   encryption bill with stronger support from industry and privacy
   advocates, has asked that it be given authority to amend and review
   the Kerrey-McCain bill. A decision on the referral request is not
   expected until the bill is filed by the Commerce Committee.
   
   In the House, legislation to revoke most export controls without
   requiring key recovery continues to gain support. The bill, authored
   by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia), has 216 cosponsors, nearly half of
   the 435-member body.
   
   Story Copyright © 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.'
   
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